‘Scandal’ Season Finale Recap: Dad?

Kerry Washington in the “Scandal” season finale titled “White Hat’s Back On.”

For fans anticipating a shocking and yes, scandalous season finale to “Scandal” you weren’t disappointed.

True to form, there were many twist and turns and a jaw-dropping finish. The episode began with a plan being hatched by Olivia, Fitz, Cyrus, Mellie and Hollis on how to handle Billy Chambers who was identified as the mole last week. They also plotted on how to retrieve the citron card proving that Olivia and the crew rigged the election that handed Fitz the presidency.

After the meeting, Fitz tells Olivia he is still planning to divorce Mellie and will make Olivia the Next First Lady. Olivia is not sure this is such a great plan given that Fitz plans to run for reelection. Fitz tells Olivia that since fixing messes is her business, she should come up with a strategy on how he can divorce Mellie and not offend voters.

Next, we see Cyrus on a park bench being pressured by the mysterious operative (Rowan played by Joe Morton) into showing Fitz the sex tape of Olivia and Jake. The purpose of showing the tape is to make Fitz so heartbroken he can’t carry on his relationship with Olivia. Cyrus then gets a call from Olivia that Maryland Governor Samuel Reston, who lost to Fitz in the rigged election, found out about the fraudulent voting from Billy Chambers and was in Fitz’s office to confront him with the claim. As Cyrus rushes to stop this encounter, he drops to ground and suffers a heart attack.

Reston tries to blackmails Fitz into naming him as Vice President in exchange for keeping silent about the election.

Later, Fitz tells Mellie in Cyrus’s hospital room that he will divorce her and hold off on making his romance with Olivia public for one year into his second term. He tells Mellie that if she protests, he will paint her as a racist and anti-feminist. He also asserts that the Republican Party will embrace Olivia because she is African American and will promote diversity in the party. It’s the most notable racial moment the show has had.

Meanwhile, we’re taken back to Olivia’s apartment where Jake saves her from an assassin. He then confesses that he is a CIA operative in a unit called B613 and that her life is in danger if she continues to have an affair with the President. Jake also discloses that he was assigned to sleep with her in order to destroy her relationship with Fitz.

Huck tries to retrieve the citron card from Billy Chambers by torturing him with a drill, but realizes he’s not a killing machine anymore. Quinn (gleefully) takes over and after a short and blood-filled interrogation, gets the card from Chambers. They soon realize it’s a fake and that David has the card in his possession. In a politically savvy move, David brokers a deal with Cyrus that in exchange for the citron card, David is publicly acknowledged for identifying and helping to capture the mole. He also gets a plum assignment: attorney general of Washington D.C.

Cyrus, convinced that Olivia and Fitz’s romance will ruin Fitz’s reelection chances, tries to break the star-crossed lovers up. He shows Fitz the sex tape with Olivia and Jake and Cyrus also tells Olivia that Fitz murdered Verna, the supreme court justice, after she threatened to expose the election fraud.

Olivia and Fitz forgive each other and agree to a fresh start, apart. Olivia says can’t leave her gladiators and convinces Fitz that he must run for reelection with Mellie at his side. Fitz concedes, and we see him return to Mellie, down on his knees with his head on her lap.

At the end of the episode, we see Olivia hopeful about the next chapter of her life as she heads out of her building for a run. As soon as she opens the doors, Olivia is ambushed by an army of reporters flashing cameras, thrusting microphones in her face and barraging her with questions about her affair with Fitz. She is whisked from the herd of journalists into a limo and sitting in front of her is Rowan, the operative who planted the sex tape.

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